The stand-up thin film plastic or laminate pouch was first introduced in 1963 by Leon and Louis Doyen as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,380,646. The basic pouch design consists of a single folded sheet of which the median longitudinal portion is folded in so as to form a “W” section. The folded sheet is heat seamed along its sides joining together the four panels of the “W” section. Additional oblique welds (gusset) unite each of the outer panels to the opposing panel of the inwardly folded portion. When the pouch is filled, the inwardly folded, gusseted bottom expands and provide a substantially hexagonal base on which the pouch can stand. In the basic design the top edge is sealed after a content is poured in, however later modifications include large variety of enclosures.
The benefit of such pouches over existing bottles or cardboard containers relates to the fact that the pouches are easily folded after emptied producing very little volume of waste when discarded. Additionally flexible pouches are assembled at site out of rolled raw material using relatively inexpensive form-fill-seal machines, therefore transportation of empty containers is eliminated.
When filled with any kind of pour-able content, the stand-up pouch accepts a stable structure which tapers from the hexagonal bottom to a flat lined top. However, when the content is partly consumed it becomes unstable due to the weight of the enclosure and tends to tip over. Additionally, if a classic upward orientation of the enclosure is desired, it requires the use of a “canoe” style adapter seamed between the opposing panels. The “canoe” shape smooths the transition of the weld between the abutting panels and the adapter. Yet, sealing efficiency of the “canoe” adapter is not as consistent as provided with a sidewards facing flanged spout which is typically heat welded to one of the panels at an early stage of the production process as taught for example in U.S. publication No. 2005/0031230.
A recent dual-end gusseted stand-up pouch also known as the “S-Pouch”, introduce an additional gusseted top face similar in shape to the bottom one, providing a flat upper surface readily accepting a flanged spout. The dual end gusseted pouch accepts a substantially cylindrical shape when filled up and is somewhat more stable than the original design when partly emptied.
Cylindrical containers however, prevent optimal use of the freight volume during transportation. As much as 25% of the cargo is air gap located between the individual cylindrical containers. To optimize transportation, and package material waste, rectangular cuboid packages are preferred.
Furthermore cylindrical beverage pouches have an outdated unpleasant look compared to the neat straight lined, rectangular shaped containers such as made of cardboard and provided for instance by “Tetrapack”.
Additionally, flexible pouches by their nature are awkward in lifting, handling and pouring as they lack a firm envelope for gripping and tend to collapse around the gripping area when lifted, making a threaded cap removal or even simple pouring, a frustrating task.
Consequently a new approach is required to improve the material usability, space efficiency, ease of handling, pouring and general appearance of thin film containers.